The city's six police divisions will be merged into four in a move that will see management and administration cuts while support staff will help police officers with paperwork, giving them more time on the beat.

Currently 12 of the 16 police divisions in the city offer programs similar to Community Alert and Auto-dialler.

Sources say that in city divisions such as Howdenhall, which covers a large part of south Edinburgh, there can be as few as four beat officers available on day and night shifts.